"How are you DOING?" he asks happily Wednesday, as if there's nothing in his life that would hint at loss of job, loss of camaraderie, loss of Lakers.

The franchise's 22nd coach seemed perfectly fine with what has happened in his life since Nov. 9, the day he arrived at the office, was pulled out of a meeting with assistant coaches and told by General Manager Mitch Kupchak he no longer worked for the Lakers.

They were 1-4 at the time. Brown was surely surprised, though he tried not to sound like it in his first interview since the firing.

"I tell you what, I had a lot of really nice phone calls from around the league that day," Brown told The Times. "Front-office people, other coaches, stuff like that. It always helps when your peers call and help you get through a time like this."

Does Brown miss it? Of course he does. But maybe not as much as expected. It helps that he's still going to earn $10 million. He had another full year on his Lakers contract after this one and a partial guarantee in 2014-15.

He's not hurting for money. And he's not dying to watch every Lakers game.

"I still have a fondness for all the guys on the team. I really enjoyed working with all of them," Brown said. "The coaching staff was unbelievable, in my opinion. I hope they win.

"In terms of watching them, it does not intrigue me enough to watch them. I guess I just don't feel like I have a need to do it. But I hope they do well because these are people I work with and care about. I learned so much from working with Kobe [Bryant] and I hope he learned something working with me."

Brown, 42, declined to comment specifically on the Lakers' decision to hire Mike D'Antoni to replace him, not to mention their brief flirtation with Phil Jackson. Nor did he offer any public commentary on their continued struggles since he was fired.

He has immersed himself in another team. Its colors are red and white.

Brown just got back from a tournament in Chicago and is heading to another one in Nevada. It's all about Mater Dei High for him these days.

His son Elijah is a senior on the boys' basketball team for the private school in Santa Ana.

"I'll be in Las Vegas for like six days, for five games," he says proudly about the upcoming tournament.

Brown was known as a hard worker, so much so that Lakers players sometimes cynically referred to him as "All Day Every Day." His schedule these days still involves a lot of basketball.

"I go to Mater Dei practices and Mater Dei games. I've literally gone to every practice. The first time I was there, an assistant coach presented me with my own bag of gear," he said.

"I've got all the Lakers gear I wore every day and now I've got all the Mater Dei gear. Hooded sweat shirts, collared shirts, T-shirts. Everything."

He's not the only noticeable father at their games. Former Clippers forward Michael Cage is a Mater Dei assistant coach because his son is on the team, and former Dodgers outfielder Darryl Strawberry's son is the Monarchs' starting point guard.

"All three of us were following the team around in Chicago," Brown said.

watching CDR and Eyenga play for the Texas Legends right now on NBATV. CDR is looking very good though his shooting percentage could be better. But his defense and his hustle has been very good, he's definitely a spark type of a player, Eyenga is blocking anything that comes his way. CDR also did this nice behind the back move through defenders finishing at the rim.

They are playing in the Mavericks arena today.

And....the song on the PA right now is NSync Bye Bye Bye.

I don't know why but I burst our laughing when one of them did a crossover to the rhythm of the song

"Bryant had come to rage against the idea that Howard's clownish disposition could overtake the locker room, the Lakers' culture, and had warned Howard that he would never, ever let it happen."

watching CDR and Eyenga play for the Texas Legends right now on NBATV. CDR is looking very good though his shooting percentage could be better. But his defense and his hustle has been very good, he's definitely a spark type of a player, Eyenga is blocking anything that comes his way. CDR also did this nice behind the back move through defenders finishing at the rim.

They are playing in the Mavericks arena today.

And....the song on the PA right now is NSync Bye Bye Bye.

I don't know why but I burst our laughing when one of them did a crossover to the rhythm of the song

Nother interview with Mike Brown, wishing the Lakers well and going over the struggles and what he thinks D'antoni is working on and fixing. Thinks the Lakers are headed in the right direction now and says the Lakers was his dream job.

Mike Brown shared his current state of personal affairs with the Register’s Janis Carr a week ago, but he offered some views on where the Lakers are headed with his replacement as head coach, Mike D’Antoni, on SiriusXM’s NBA show “Off the Dribble” Thursday.“It’s going to take Mike a little bit of time because he’s got his two starting bigs in Dwight Howard and Pau Gasol,” Brown said. “So now what he’s going to have to continue to try to mix and match and find minutes for is for Antawn Jamison. Do you play him at the power forward or do you try to play him at small forward some? So there are some things, I think, that Coach D’Antoni is still trying to figure out.”Brown allowed that injuries to Gasol and Steve Nash are a big part of D’Antoni’s problems.“They’ve been struggling, obviously, as of late, but I think they do have a nice team, and Coach D’Antoni has won many times before in the past,” Brown said. “Especially when they get Steve Nash back and Pau, I think obviously those are two big ingredients for that team to be on the upswing. As soon as they get those guys back on the hardwood, I think they’ll be heading in the right direction.”About the Lakers firing him, Brown said: “I appreciate the opportunity that the Buss family gave me and Mitch Kupchak gave me. Coaching the Lakers was an exciting, great time. It was a dream job for a lot of people, including myself. And it’s their team and so whenever, however they wanted to operate it I was okay with. It’s not my decision to talk about the decision that they made. I just live by whatever decision they make.”In a weird twist, Brown was appearing on the show co-hosted by former Lakers and Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy, who interviewed for the position to replace Brown.

Classy.

Edited by Majesty, December 16, 2012 - 11:59 PM.

"Bryant had come to rage against the idea that Howard's clownish disposition could overtake the locker room, the Lakers' culture, and had warned Howard that he would never, ever let it happen."

he got his time during Kobe's injury and played very well during that stretch and then got injured before the playoffs and could never find his shot. It happened two years in a row for the guy and Metta was playing out his mind after getting back to 100% and in shape, so that's understandable. Metta was better than him so if he was playing inconsistently of course you pull him for Metta.

He also benefits from the system he plays in, same thing would have happened here with Nash and him, just like it happened with Sessions and him. The Lakers just took a gamble roll of the dice on the YOUNG Devin Ebanks and crapped out.

"Bryant had come to rage against the idea that Howard's clownish disposition could overtake the locker room, the Lakers' culture, and had warned Howard that he would never, ever let it happen."

he played great when he had minutes over Kobe while Kobe was injured too. He played for us under both Mike Brown and Phil Jackson and the same thing happened both years in a row. he played well and got injured, and never got his groove back.

Same thing happened when Phil was here, same thing happened when Brown was here.

His problem was never being able to stay healthy. if he's able to do that as a Clipper then more power to him. But his inability to stay healthy had as much to do with why he couldn't produce when the lights were brightest than any other excuse that could be reached for. He's actually remained healthy so far this season. That has a lot to do with it.

Edited by Majesty, December 28, 2012 - 06:03 PM.

"Bryant had come to rage against the idea that Howard's clownish disposition could overtake the locker room, the Lakers' culture, and had warned Howard that he would never, ever let it happen."